Sentinel Data Centers says it has leased space in its New Jersey data center to three of the largest Fortune 500 firms, who have leased more than 50,000 square feet of  data center space. As a result, Sentinel said it will immediately begin construction on the second phase of construction at the data center in Somerset, N.J.

Sentinel’s leasing announcement comes just three months after the company completed construction of the first phase of its NJ-1 facility, which includes about 140,000 gross square feet. Phase II will add another 100,000 gross square feet and will yield approximately 55,000 usable square feet of turn-key data center space.  NJ-1 will ultimately be comprised of three phases totaling 330,000 gross square feet, 160,000 usable square feet of turn-key data center space and 25 megawatts of critical power capacity.

Strong Leasing In Busy Market
Sentinel’s update comes as some industry observers have expressed concern about the amount of wholesale space on the market in central New Jersey. The robust leasing to enterprise customers suggests that the demand for space remains solid. Sentinel believes it has positioned its NJ-1 facility appropriately for the market.

“We have worked really hard to optimize our model for the quality-sensitive large enterprise and are gratified that end-users are validating the engineering and operations focused nature of our approach,” said Josh Rabina, Sentinel’s Co-President. ““We are continuing to attract the most discerning data center users across multiple industries and will work persistently to exceed their highest expectations.”

“Our ‘on demand’ commercial model enables our users to avoid oversizing upfront commitments and our best-in-class energy efficiency provides substantial pass-through savings,” said  Co-President Todd Aaron. “We are thrilled that our value proposition is resonating and that thought leading companies are selecting Sentinel to entrust with their most critical IT assets.”

The 330,000 square foot NJ-1 facility is the first data center or colocation facility in the greater New York region to earn a LEED Gold designation.

Sentinel Data Centers is a leading owner, developer and operator of multi-tenant data centers for large footprint users. Founded in 2001, Sentinel has developed over one million square feet and 80 megawatts of data center solutions.

By Rich Miller, July 7, 2011, Data Center Knowledge. This article was originally posted on Data Center Knowledge.